Skirt pressing machine



Aug. '16, 1966 G. FLElscHr-:R

SKIRT PRESSING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 2, 1964 Aug., 16, 1966 G. x-LElscHER 3,265,683

SKIRT PRES SING MACHINE Filed NOV. 2, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 2

United States Patent "ice 3,266,683 SKIRT PRESSING MACHINE Gottfried Fleischer, Ludwigstr. 2S, Furth, Bavaria, Germany Filed Nov. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 408,189 Claims priority, application Germany, Nov. 2, 1%3, F 41,173 3 Claims. (Cl. 223-67) The present invention relates to pressing machines and is particularly concerned with a machine for pressing garments such as skirts while subjecting them to a treatment with hot steam.

In cleaning plants for garments and in manufacturing establishments for clothing, garment presses are frequently utilized which comprise a stationary bottom shoe and an associated upper shoe which can be moved from an open position to pressing position in contact with the garment on the bottom shoe. The housings of the upper and bottom shoe can be supplied with steam during the pressing operation.

Such presses are utilized for pressing many different types of garments, such as trousers, skirts, ladies and mens jackets, etc.

If a skirt is to be pressed upon such a press, a series of individual operations must `be performed, and these operations depend also on the size of the skirt.

The skirt is pulled over the lower or bottom shoe, is srnoothened, and the upper shoe is pressed down on the skirt. This, however, permits of pressing only a portion of the skirt. The upper shoe must be again raised, the skirt turned upon the lower shoe over a distance corresponding tothe width that can ybe pressed at one time, and

.then the upper shoe must again be lowered and the new part pressed.

In this manner it may be necessary to perform as many as 5 to 8 working operations in order to press the entire circumference of a skirt. It must be considered that for each of these operations the steam supply for the upper and lower shoe must be turned on and off. This also applies to any steam suction device which may be a part of the press.

However, even this multitude of operations is not suf- `iicient to finish the pressing of a skirt, because the method does not permit of pressing the lining without wrinkles or creases. This may under certain conditions also apply to pleats. Therefore it is necessary that a skirt treated upon such a press can only be completely pressed in a series of additional manual ironing operations.

The subjectof the application concerns a steam press which permits of pressing skirts of any size completely, including lining and different pleats, in a single working operation, i.e., fitting the garment onto the press and supplying steam.

This is accomplished in that in a steam press a fitting form made of a large number of wires is provided, the diameter of which may be `changed in a continuous manner by means of an adjusting device.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention the adjusting device comprises an axially movable shaft having a head end to which resilient and expansible wires are fastened, while under the head end of this shaft a stationary support disk for the resilient wires is provided and the free ends of the resilient wires are slidably fed through radial slots in a further support disk.

In .accordance with a further feature of the invention an air bag is arranged within the fitting form, which under the pressure of air `moves into contact with the wires of the form from the inside. Suitably the fitting form together with the air bag are rotatably arranged upon the pedestal of the machine for movement around a vertical axis.

3,266,683 Patented August 16, i966 For additional drying of the steam required for pressing, a helical coil that is heated with steam is advantageously provided in the interior of the fitting form. A simple axial displacement of the setting shaft can advantageously be effected by means of a foot pedal in accordance with a further feature of the invention.

yFurther advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following specification with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. l is a skirt pressing machine in the non-expanded condition of the skirt supporting form,

FIG. 2 is the same machine showing the expanded con dition of the skirt supporting form.

The machine is provided with a rotatable vertically disposed fitting form A which comprises a head member a and a plurality of resilient wires b secured to head member a which are also vertically disposed and assembled at the top in a manner corresponding to a bottle neck. A vertical shaft c slidably supported by guiding means n such as a sleeve adjustably supports this form at the head end, and this shaft provides for adjustment of the height. The guiding means or sleeve n is firmly secured in the housing o which is mounted on the base of the machine. Inside the form A a horizontally disposed spreading means in the form of a disk d is securely fastened to sleeve n at the upper end thereof. This disk has as many notches e as there are wires b. In each of said notches e a wire b is located. At the lower end of the form there is likewise arranged a guiding means in the form of a disk f, which has as many slots g as the f orm A has wires b, and these slots g extend radially outwardly from the center of disk f.

The wires b which extend downwardly from the top are loosely received in these slots g. If the centrally arranged shaft c is pressed downwardly, the lwires b which slide in notches e are bowed or spread outwardly by the disk d and are moved outwandly in the slots g of the lower disk f. The extent to which the form is widened depends on the setting of the shaft c upwardly or downwardly.

Inside this rotatable form A an air bag h -is arranged which is supplied with compressed air that blows up the bag and additionally presses the vertically arranged wires b outwardly. The bag h is supported at its upper end on said disk d and is fastened in any convenient manner at its lower end to the disk f or circumrferentially around the housing 0; the attachment may be by means of clamps fastened to the bag h at the top and engaging the disk a' and by means of a strin-g in or around the lower end of the bag l1 `and tied around the housing o. lf in the non-expanded condition a skirt is pulled over the form A and the assembly is expanded by moving the shaft downwardly, the wires b engage the inside of the skirt and tenter or spread out all of its areas. By blowing up the air bag h the wires b have imparted thereto further outward pressure, and air bag h fills the spaces intermediate the individual wires b, so that the skirt is tentered or spread out smoothly and without wrinkles.

Furthermore, the press in accordance with the invenltion is equipped with a plurality of counter supports arranged perpendicular-ly with respect to the form A. These counter supports which can be moved horizontally toward the form A as shown in FIG. 2, in dotted lines, serve for accurately pressing any skirt pleats or folds against the form A. In this case the expanded form A is rotated so that the pleats are disposed opposite the radially disposed counter supports i. When the skirt is spread out, then the steam supply is initiated. The hot steam which flows out through a distributor `t-ube k disposed centrally of the form is conducted over a heating coil l in spiral form disposed around the distributor tube k, so ithat the steam is additionally dried and effects the actual pressing operation Ain substantially dry condition. The air supply is effected by Way of a schematically illustrated nozzle member or blow pipe m. The connections for tubes k and l and for blow pipe m are provided in the housing o. This housing is mounted on a support or base p. The air supply for the air bag lz and the steam supply are automatically controlled by means of a timing device such as a clock.

The fitting form illustrated in this disclosure is merely a practical embodiment. There also exists .the possibility of providing the fitting form with brush hairs, so that the sof-t hairs permit smooth stretching of the skirt.

Operation of the pressing machine in accordance with the invention is as follows:

(l) The skirt is fitted over the non-expanded form and the `wires are expanded,

(2) If 'there are pleats, the for-m is turned so that any pleat is located opposite a counter support, and the counter supports are then moved into contact with the skirt,

(3) The air supply is opened for the air bag in order to further bend or expand the wires and fill the spaces intermediate the wires, so that the'skirt is tentered or stretched without wrinkles over the entire exposed surface,

(4) Steam is turned on and flows from the distributor tube and is simultaneously dried by the heating coils, so that the pressing is effected with substantially dry steam. The steaming time can be controlled as desired.

(5) Steam is turned oif.

(6) Airis turned olf.

(7) The counter supports for the pleats are released.

(8) The pressure on the form is released.

(9) The skirt is removed.

The entire working operation takes approximately 20 to 30 seconds.

Having now described my invention with reference to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, I do not wish to be limited thereto, but what I desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A pressing machine, particularly for skirts, said machine comprising a base, a housing mounted on said base, a plurality of resilient wires arranged to constitute a fit-ting form of generally circular shape, and adjusting means adapted to continually vary the diameter of said form, said adjusting means including guiding means, such as a sleeve, extending upwardly from said housing, a vertical shaft axially movable in said -guiding means, a head member supported at the upper end of said shaft, spreading means disposed at the upper end of said guiding means below said head member and a wire guiding device disposed adjacent the lower end of said wires, said wires being secured at their upper ends to said head member and extending downwardly therefrom by way of said spreading means and through said wire guiding device, said spreading means being adapted to bend said wires outwardly in response to downward movement of said shaft, said head member and said wires relative to said spreading means.

2. A pressing machine, particularly for skirts, said machine comprising a base, a housing `mounted on said base, a plurality of resilient wires arranged to constitute a fitting form of generally circular shape and adjusting means adapted to continually vary the diameter of said form, said adjusting means including guiding means, such as a sleeve, extending upwardly from said housing, a vertical shaft axially movable in said guiding means, a head member supported at the upper end of said shaft, a spreading disk disposed at the upper end of said guiding means below said head member and a wire guiding disk disposed circumferentially of said housing, said guiding disk having a plurality of radially extending slots, one for each of said wires, said wires being secured at their upper ends to said head member and extending downwardly therefrom by way of said spreading disk through said slo-ts, said spreading disk being adapted to bend said wires outwardly in response to downward movement of said shaft, 4said head member and said wires relative to said spreading disk.

3. A pressing machine, particularly for skirts, said machine comprising a base, a housing mounted on said base, a plurality of resilient lwires arranged to constitute a tittting form of generally circular shape and adjusting means adapted to continually vary the diameter of said form, said adjusting means including guiding means, such as a sleeve, extending upwardly from said housing, a vertical shaft axially movable in said guiding means, a head member supported at the upper end of said shaft, a spreading disk disposed at the upper end of said guiding means below said head member and al guiding disk disposed circumferentially of said housing, said guiding disk having a plurality of radially extending slots, one for each of said Wires, said wires being secured at their upper ends to said head member and extending downwardly therefrom by way of said spreading disk through said slots, said spreading disk being adapted to bend said wires outwardly in response to downward movement of said shaft, said head member and said wires relative to said spreading disk, and an air bag being arranged within said form adapted to engage said wires when supplied with air under pressure, said form including said air bag being rotatable about a vertical axis, said machine further including means to supply steam to the interior of said bag including a distributor tube extending from said housing parallel to said guiding means, an air supply nozzle extending yfrom said housing and a helical heating coil disposed about said distributor tube and a foot pedal linked to said shaft operative to effect axial displacement of said shaft.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 390,668 10/1888 Hall 223-68 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner. 

3. A PRESSING MACHINE, PARTICULARLY FOR SKIRTS, SAID MACHINE COMPRISING A BASE, A HOUSING MOUNTED ON SAID BASE, A PLURALITY OF RESILIENT WIRE ARRANGED TO CONSTITUE A FITTING FORM OF GENERALLY CIRCULAR SHAPE AND ADJUSTING MEANS ADAPTED TO CONTINUALLY VARY THE DIAMETER OF SAID FORM, SAID ADJUSTING MEANS INCLUDING GUIDING MEANS, SUCH AS A SLEEVE, EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID HOUSING, A VERTICAL SHAFT AXIALLY MOVABLE IN SAID GUIDING MEANS, A HEAD MEMBER SUPPORTED AT THE UPPER END OF SAID SHAFT, A SPREADING DISK DISPOSED AT THE UPPER END OF SAID GUIDING MEANS BELOW SAID HEAD MEMBER AND A GUIDING DISK DISPOSED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OF SAID HOUSING, SAID GUIDING DISK HAVING A PLURLAITY OF RADIALLY EXTENDING SLOT, ONE FOR EACH OF SAID WIRES BEING SECURED AT THEIR UPPER ENDS TO SAID HEAD MEMBER AND EXTENDING DOWMWARDLY THEREFROM BY WAY OF SAID SPEADING DISK THROUGH SAID SLOTS, SAID SPREADING DISK BEING ADAPTED TO BEND SAID WIRES OUTWARDLY IN RESPONSE TO DOWNWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID SHAFT, SAID HEAD MEMBER AND SAID WIRES RELATIVE TO SAID SPEADING DISK, AND AN AIR BAG BEING ARRANGED WITHIN SAID FORM ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID WIRES WHEN SUPPLIED WITH AIR UNDER PRESSURE, SAID FORM INCLUDING SAID AIR BAG BEING ROTATABLE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS, SAID MACHINE FURTHER INCLUDING MEANS TO SUPPLY STEAM TO THE INTERIOR OF SAID BAG INCLUDING A DISTRIBUTOR TUBE EXTENDING FROM SAID HOUSING PARALLEL TO SAID GUIDING MEANS, AN AIR SUPPLY NOZZLE EXTENDING FROM SAID HOUSING AND A HELICAL HEATING COIL DISPOSED ABOUT SAID DISTRIBUTOR TUBE AND A FOOT PEDAL LINKED TO SAID SHAFT OPERATIVE TO EFFECT AXIAL DISPLACEMENT OF SAID SHAFT. 